Nowadays, Smartphones come with many and many useful features and interesting technologies that make them hard to resist. Those stuff have made our lives so easy and comfortable making our things done perfectly. So it's so impossible, even to imagine spending a life without a Smartphone now. But it's very important to use the Smartphone wisely; else we will end-up with many health issues over and over. Getting addicted to a Smartphone means you're opening the doors for numerous health issues. There are many such health problems that anyone might experience if you are addicted to using Smartphones for a longer duration. Following are some of the major health problems that might head-on because of the Smartphone addicted life style.
- Stress Build-up
- Brain Issues
- Vision Loss
- Text Neck
- Text Claw
- Wrist Problems
- Cell Phone Elbow
Lets talk about the above listed syndromes briefly.
Stress Build-up
Using Smartphones indicates that you are always available to attend for calls, reply to messages, social media notifications, check emails, go through others' status, chat with people who waste the time being online all the time & etc. As the work gets prolonged, you tend to build by stress. It also reduces the concentration power of the people. When you using you sometimes do many things at once in your phone. So you lose the chance of focusing on a single work and your mind runs here and there every moment. Also when you miss your daily work because of your smartphone, later when you realize that, it brings a huge stress to you. So keep the smartphone in the distance where you should use it when only it is needed.
Vision Loss
Reading small fonts on a smart phone can disturb your vision permanently. This problem happens as your eyes are strained constantly by looking at the blue light coming out of the Smartphone. Reading or using Smartphones during absence of external light further boosts the problem. Getting addicted to watch videos on such platforms as YouTube and playing games for a long time also cause Vision problems. There are some symptoms regarding the vision, which occurs because of the smartphone addicted life style. Ex; eyes being to burn and itch, dry eyes, dizziness and even blurred vision. To stay away from these kind of vision symptoms you need to follow the 20-20-20 rule to limit the harmful effects on your eyes. Every 20 minutes you need to take 20 seconds to focus on any object that is 20 feet away.
Text Neck
The spinal cord disorder that is caused due to over usage of Smartphones is termed Text-Neck. Usually, people bend their neck up to 60 degrees to text on a smartphone. This posture builds up the pressure on the neck. Symptoms of this are, tension headache, neck and shoulder pain, difficulty in breathing, pain in in-middle of the back, chest and lower-back pain. To avoid them you should always hold your smart phones at eye level and must do neck exercises regularly.
Text Claw
Not only texting, too much of typing and browsing can also give you a text claw. It can create soreness and cramping in your fingers, wrist and forearm. If you have thumb pain and have to give breaks to your thumb occasionally while using your smartphone, you might already be suffering from text claw. Pain in the thumb, band or wrist, pain when bending or straightening the thumb are the symptoms of this. You can get rid of them by maintaining a good posture and don't grip the phone too hard. Also touch the smartphone keypad lightly when typing.
Wrist Problems
Holding the smartphones for a long duration strains the wrist easily. Most of the people usually hold their phones using the last three fingers and the thumb while using the forefinger for performing actions on the smartphone screens. Retaining the posture for a longer duration everyday tends to create pain in the wrist. So it's better to keep on changing the posture of the phone when performing tasks like reading.
Cell Phone Elbow
If you hold your mobile phone for longer periods, the ulnar nerve which extends from underneath the elbow gets stretched. This nerve controls your ring and little fingers. Due to stretching for a long time, the blood supply gets restricted to this nerve and you may experience numbness or tingling in the little and ring fingers. This condition is known as Cell Phone Elbow [Cubital Tunnel Syndrome] and if it gets severe, you may need a surgery. You can give your phone and elbow some rest when using the phone and get away from indulging in long chats over your smartphones.
Tips for Healthier Smartphone Use
1. Mobile phones should be switch off and kept away from the bedside. It should be kept away at-least one hour before bedtime.
2. The screen brightness should be under control with practical settings.
3. Limit the number of calls and the length of the calls.
4. Using a hands-free set is the easiest way to radically reduce the amount of radiation you are exposed to if you use a mobile phone. But using the hands-free too much, with high volume is not healthy for your hearing.
5. When you place a call and are waiting for the other person to pick-up, your phone is sending out its strongest signals to connect with the others'. So do not place your phone to your head during this phase of the call. While the call if you're not using a hands-free, put the call on speaker phone or hold the phone away from your ear.
6. Limit the time you use the smartphone for your pleasure in your leisure time. Use the phone only when it is needed. Get rid of your smartphone if it seems that you're getting addicted to it.
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